5 Percenter Quotes & Sayings

With Outlook bikers in Australia, if you've got a little emblazoned thing that's got 'one percent' on it, that means you're one percent of the population and a dangerous criminal. If it's '99,' it means you're kind of a nice recreational biker. If it's 'zero percenter,' it just shows you're a total deadbeat. — James Frecheville

I've always thought of myself as an 80 percenter. I like to throw myself passionately into a sport or activity until I reach about an 80 percent proficiency level. To go beyond that requires an obsession that doesn't appeal to me. Once I reach 80 percent level I like to go off and do something totally different; that probably explains the diversity of the Patagonia product like - and why our versatile, multifaceted clothes are the most successful. — Yvon Chouinard

Not every ten-percenter is an excellent sheep, but a sufficient number are for you to think very carefully before deciding to surround yourself with them. Kids at less prestigious schools are apt to be more interesting, more curious, more open, more appreciative of what they're getting, and far less entitled and competitive. They tend to act like peers instead of rivals. — William Deresiewicz

I think very few people are gay. I'm a two-percenter myself. — Andrew Sullivan

When you are a one-percenter, you live your life your way. — Sophia Amoruso

I also spoke about the kid who can't be bothered to get A's in every class in high school because they're actually more interested in following their curiosity, so here's another rule of thumb. U.S. News supplies the percentage of freshmen at each college who finished in the highest 10 percent of their high school class. Among the top twenty universities, the number is usually above 90 percent, a threshold that is also reached at several of the top colleges. I'd be wary of schools like that (though I would make an exception for public universities, which draw from disadvantaged high schools from across their respective states). Not every ten-percenter is an excellent sheep, but a sufficient number are for you to think very carefully before deciding to surround yourself with them. — William Deresiewicz